Gum Tree Eucalyptus tereticornis

Forest Red Gum follows the east coast further than almost any other eucalypt, from Gippsland through New South Wales and up into far north Queensland, usually on river flats where the soil stays deep. The bark sheds in irregular patches to leave a smooth trunk in white, cream and blue grey, sometimes over a short rough stocking at the base, and the long horn shaped bud caps give the species its name. The crown is open and tall, throwing dappled shade over paddocks and windbreak rows.

Coast to tropics, and the ground it needs underneath

Few trees in this range cover as much country. It grows from cool temperate Victoria to the tropics, which means it handles humidity and summer rain that inland gums resent, along with frost at the southern end of its range. Full sun, and it prefers the deeper soils of flats and gentle slopes, tolerating periodic wet without complaint. Growth is fast, and once the roots are down it needs very little water. Flowering is white and heavy with nectar, bringing lorikeets and bees, and the species is a recognised koala feed tree through parts of its range, which is why it carries so much weight in habitat plantings. Give it a full canopy width and more from any building, shed or powerline, because it is a large tree that sheds limbs with age.

Forest Red Gum is lost by putting it on the wrong part of the block. This is a tree of river flats and deep soil, and it earns its growth rate by getting roots down into moisture it can rely on. Planted on a shallow stony ridge, a windy rise or a compacted building pad it does not die outright, which is the trap. It stalls, holds a thin sparse crown that never closes, and in that stressed state it becomes a magnet for psyllids and lerp and stays chewed and shabby for years while a tree of the same age on the flat below is twice the size. Put it on the deepest soil you have, low in the landscape rather than high, and if the only ground available is dry shallow gravel, plant one of the slope species instead.

Forest Red Gum among the red gums

It crosses readily with Blakely's red gum where their ranges meet, and the two are genuinely similar, but Blakely's belongs on the dry inland slopes while this one takes the coastal side with its humidity and summer storms. River red gum is the third of the group, heavier again in the crown and notorious for dropping limbs, and it wants a floodplain. Choose Forest Red Gum for coastal and subcoastal shade, windbreaks and koala habitat work. The trunks are the quick field difference: this one and Blakely's both go mottled and patchy, but river red gum runs to a shorter, far heavier bole with a crown that spreads much wider than it stands tall. All three are paddock trees, so none of them solves a small block. Very large stock appears under super advanced trees.

Four years of shaping buys a safe tree

Formative pruning in the first four years is what buys you a safe tree later. Select a single leader, shorten competing stems rather than removing them flush, and lift the canopy in stages so the trunk keeps thickening. Work in late winter. Once mature, keep to deadwood and clearance work, and get large limb removals done properly, because poor cuts on a fast growing red gum lead to decay and later failure. Feeding is unnecessary on farm ground and light in a garden, which means a light native feed each spring until it is away, and no phosphorus heavy products at any point. Mulch, control grass at the base, and water through the establishment period.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 6 sizes, from 140mm up to 400L, priced from $16.95 to $2979.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. The smaller pots hold younger plants that cost less each and establish quickly, which suits hedges, screens and mass planting where the plant count adds up. The larger sizes carry several more years of growth on the farm and give height and presence straight away, which is what you want for a single feature position or a screen that cannot wait. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to Australian native trees for shade.